when it comes to resin, USE GLOVES. also wearing clothes you dont care about is a good idea too.
wear a REAL respirator with active charcoal cartridges, cuts down the fumes almost totally.
I used a hacked of coke can to mix my resin in this last time... worked like a charm. mixed it with a Popsicle stick.
Just poured it in, in small batches, then used a scrap of cardboard to spread it around.
brushes are kinda pricey figuring they will be trashed in one or two batches of resin.
DON'T MIX IT ACCORDING TO INSTRUCTIONS ON THE CAN!!!
It comes out way hot and gel's really fast, try half the hardener first and see how you like it.
the hardener really only accelerates the gelling, you need some but let me tell you... 7 drops per ounce is HOT.
did i mention make small batches? you have two buckets, you can afford to switch between the two while one is curing a little longer than standard.
so much for the resin part...
CUT THE MAT SMALL! small strips beats large custom fit pieces... I learned that the hard way. no matter how precisely you cut a giant piece of matting it will bubble up / lift off the resin and it becomes a pain in the shebs to smooth it back down or to fill the hollow area later. cut your mat before hand, lay it in small strips, use a Popsicle stick or something to press it down and smooth it. if you have throwaway tweezers it's a good idea to use those to lay the mat into the bucket, keep those gloves resin free as long as you can.
do the dome first, then let it cure upside down. setting it on a roll of tape is a good way to keep the bucket from rolling off the dome.
work on the other bucket, same scenario, when bucket 1 is cured start working on the back. let it cure on its back so the strips don't slide around or lift off.
work same area on bucket #2... then comes the cheeks and visor area, if you already cut those, like i did, you are in for a ride...
resin will drip and run, strips slide down etc etc etc.. just get it on there smooth and with the least amount of bubbles.
you can always go back and add a coat of resin over the top of the mat and totally seal it in.
try not to leave resin snot (partially gelled resin) inside the bucket, i did and it's a pain in the shebs to sand inside the bucket.
Good Luck ner'vod.